Economics & Economy

Fax machines, once the height of telecommunications tech, have mostly gone the way of the beeper. Some offices still fax occasionally, via those big industrial copiers, which new research shows are very vulnerable to hacking. We'll talk through today's cybersecurity and yesterday's tech, but first: What you need to know about Zimbabwe's election and Turkey's currency crisis. Plus: A new book explores what it's like growing up in a company town when the company is the U.S. government.

President Donald Trump signed a defense spending bill today called the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act, authorizing $717 billion worth of Pentagon spending for the coming fiscal year. Keeping the country and its military at war and prepared for war means a lot of jobs for a lot of people. For Karen Piper's family, building America's weapons of war was the family business. Her parents were weapons developers at the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station in the Mojave Desert.

Zimbabwe’s presidential elections in July were supposed to be a chance for the southern African nation to show the world that it’s moved beyond the authoritarianism and economic isolationism that marked former President Robert Mugabe’s rule.

That hope faded when six people were killed in post-election protests. Officially, ruling-party candidate Emmerson Mnangagwa won a razor-thin majority. But his top challenger, Nelson Chamisa, is contesting the results in court. That’s delayed the inauguration that had been scheduled for Sunday.

At a body shop in Atlanta, Leigh Anne Hatfield just finished taking apart the front of an SUV.

“This is a brand new Toyota Highlander. Got smacked in the front,” she said. Hatfield said she loves her job here at the body shop. It’s her first job since she become a certified welder. A few month ago she was so poor, she had to apply for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or food stamps.

The economic crisis in Turkey deepened this morning, despite moves by central bank officials in Ankara to calm the flight from the currency. The Turkish lira has lost 39 percent of its value since the beginning of the month. And there’s a reason why the lira’s downfall makes investors nervous — analysts are looking to see if other economies might be feeling the pressure too.